


love is brightest in the dark

by seozkjin



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Avatar!Yoongi, Bending (Avatar), First Love, M/M, Prince/ King Jeon Jungkook, Time Skips, earthbender!jungkook
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:35:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22042660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seozkjin/pseuds/seozkjin
Summary: all the times where jungkook and yoongi met throughout the avatar's training.
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Min Yoongi | Suga
Comments: 9
Kudos: 80





	1. Chapter 1

_Earth_

The first time they meet, Yoongi has just turned eighteen and can’t quite wrap his head around the fact that his earthbending master is a fucking _teenager_.

Well, it’s not like himself is much older than this kid- _Jeon Jungkook,_ he had bowed, _prince of the Earth Kingdom, pleasured to meet you_ \- but he’s the Avatar. That’s gotta be something, right?

Don't get him wrong, it's just that. When they told Yoongi he would've to master all elements’ bending, he expected his mentors to be- well, at least older than 30 years old, not sixteen. And, in all honesty, the prince in front of him looks like puberty hit him just last week. Bright doe-eyes, coconut hair and dirty trousers, is this kid really the one who's about to train the Avatar?

Yoongi tries to shake away the thought. He was told that even at a young age, Jungkook is known around the Earth Kingdom to be a very skilled fighter and bender, so he decides to give it a go. After the Earth King had introduced them, the prince wastes no time bringing them to the training yard of the palace.

Jungkook takes a few steps back and stops, getting into position, circling his feet on the ground and raising his fists. Grinning, he tells Yoongi. "Try and see if you can hit me."

He scoffs. This kid is _impossible_. Yoongi shakes his hands on his side while jumping, and then also gets in position, opening his water canteen.

Yoongi almosts thinks this will be too easy.

"Ready," Jungkook raises his brow. "Set, _go_."

Yoongi shifts on his feet and easily creates a tendril of water and quickly strikes his opponent, but Jungkook easily deflects his attack. Yoongi doesn’t slow down, making non-stop attacks and still, Jungkook manages to dodge them all.

"This is where your earthbending training begins," The younger says, smiling. He must think he's so smart. "Lesson number one: feel your surroundings, try to use your feet to sense the vibrations from the area around you."

Yoongi stops and lowers his arms, and closes his eyes. "Breathe in. Can you feel anything?" He can hear Jungkook whispering from somewhere. At first, he doesn't; the only thing he can is rocks that he's stepping on, and the wind on his face.

"Focus. Find me."

He still can't feel anything, no nothing, and this is so stupid, this kid is _so_ -

Then he feels it. To his right, he can sense Jungkook silently moving but Yoongi's body hesitates before striking another whip of water; and the prince sings songs back: "Too slow, try again." Yoongi clenches his fist beside him and concentrates more. The feeling sometimes makes it through, but sometimes it vanishes. When the catches the same vibration from before, this time at his left, he doesn't waste time throwing another whip of water at its direction.

"Close, but still not quite there." Yoongi mentally curses. He needs to be faster. "Come on, you can do b-"

Yoongi whips a tendril of water as soon as he feels him moving, not even giving Jungkook time to finish his sentence. When he opens his eyes, Jungkook is in awe, running a hand through his now damp hair and shaking some water off him.

"Ha! You did it!"

Yoongi lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Jungkook jogs up to him, and gets so close that Yoongi can see the little droplets of water falling off from his chin. "I knew you would make it, hyung." He smiles and gives him a thumbs up.

Yoongi scratches behind his ear. Jungkook had just thought him his first lesson and Yoongi has picked it up right away. Maybe he did underestimated Jungkook’s abilities a little bit.

\--------------------------------

Five months pass of his intense earthbending training with Jungkook, so intense that they don't ever leave the palace; always training until night time when both of them are too tired to keep going.

The problem is: around lesson six, Yoongi stops making progress. They are not sure why; Yoongi has long ago thrown his initial judgment of him out the window, as he seen how skilled Jungkook is over the time spent together. But he just simply can't bend anything past small rocks and creating an earth shield. In theory, he’s got it. He has learned and memorized the moves by now, having read almost every earthbending book on the palace's library, but to no avail.

It frustrates Yoongi, knowing that he's supposed to be the _Avatar_ , and can't even go past simple bending moves. And it's not like earthbending should be hard for him to learn (not like firebending, for example), since the natural cycle follows the elements Water, Earth, Fire and Air.

And each time he fails, Jungkook looks very lost. He tries to hide it, but Yoongi knows that Jungkook thinks he's responsible for the general lack of progress, and must blame himself for not being a good teacher for the Avatar.

So when another attempt to throw a fairly large rock on a wooden enemy fails, Yoongi just falls to the ground, exhausted. "This isn't working." He says, rubbing his eyes.

Jungkook takes a seat on a rock, looking down. "I know." he almost whispers. "We should try changing bending styles. That might help." He says, lost in thought.

Yoongi cracks his eyes open, and takes pity on the prince. This is hard for them both. "Hey, you know what we should do? Maybe you could show me around Ba Sing Se, huh?" Yoongi gets up and cleans his clothes from lying on the ground. "You could take hyung to your favorite places."

Jungkook seems to think about it for a while, before he stands up. "I could take you to a tea shop on the Lower Ring. It's the best one in the city, in my opinion."

Ruffling his hair, Yoongi jokenly raises his brow at him. "A prince, walking around the Lower Ring of the city?"

He shoves him lightly. "Where do you think I learned how to fight?" Jungkook smiles, and walks out. Yoongi giggles and follows him after, glad that the air has lifted up.

\----------------------------------------

Life in Ba Sing Se wasn't bad as he thought, all those months ago. By now, both of them have accepted the fact that maybe Yoongi is not going to make any more progress other than basic bending, even when they tried to change bending styles _twice_. So they keep training the moves that Yoongi can bend.

So, for now, Yoongi tries to focus on other things: Jungkook teaches him how to fight, and learns that the prince is an old champion of the Earth Rumble tournament a couple of years ago. Jungkook also introduces him to his friends, Taehyung and Namjoon, both from the Middle Ring.

Yoongi and Jungkook hang around a lot now. From watching fights at the Earth Rumble, having tea on the Lower Ring, or just going to visit the Zoo right in front of the city walls. One day, they are sitting on the grass around the Lake Laogai having a picnic when Yoongi realises that Jungkook's stares linger on him just a bit more than usual, or how the prince seems to blush more in between their conversations.

But right when he starts to think about what those looks and red cheeks might mean, as their earthbending training completes one year. Yoongi's counselor advices him that due to his results, it would be silly for him to push it longer. He suggested that maybe he could try moving it on the next element, Fire, to see if he can get better results. It pains Yoongi that he agrees. He can't go on with this anymore, if he can't learn earthbending right now, then it might be better to just move on to the next. His counselor tells him that he can always come back to this element whenever he feels like his bending skills have become better, anyways. Then, Yoongi asks him to find him a firebending mentor.

It brakes his heart to tell Jungkook that he's leaving to the Fire Nation, but it's something that both knew it was meant to happen, sometime. Jungkook hugs him tightly, hiding his face on Yoongi's neck as he says, "I'm sorry, hyung, for not being able to teach you." Yoongi shakes his head. After a moment, Jungkook speaks up again, "I will miss you, Avatar." the prince mockling says, just to annoy him. Yoongi rolls his eyes, and breaks off the hug. "And I will miss you too, my prince." And exaggeratedly bows before him.

Yoongi gets in the carriage, waving back from the window as Jungkook gets further and further away. When he can no longer see him, Yoongi retreats and rests his head back, sighing. So many things concern him. Will Jungkook be ok? Will his own bending be ok? He thinks of the future for a second, imagining that he might not be able to learn firebending either, or any bending at all besides waterbending, or that he will be a failure of a Avatar for the people.

He shakes his head. No, now it's not the time to think about such things. The world needs an Avatar and he should re-start his new training with positivity and hopefulness. Fire might be the hardest elements of them all for him, but he’s determined to overcome anything.

Time to learn a new element.

_Fire_

It's been three years since Yoongi started his firebending training with his master, Kim Seokjin. 

Three years since he last saw Jungkook.

Kim Seokjin is a respectable army general of the Fire Nation, as well as the loyal right arm of the Fire Lord herself. Having participated in several conflicts before, the Fire Lord didn't hesitated before nominating him as Yoongi's next master. 

Since his arrival at the Capital of the Fire Nation, the Avatar had learned and even excelled his firebending a lot, to his and his counselor's relief. And although it is a good thing, he and his new master couldn't help but to think _why_ , since it's by nature that Yoongi's affection with firebending would be smaller than with the other elements, as he was firstly in contact with the element of water.

So aside from practising the basics, for the first months Seokjin and Yoongi spend their time researching in all they could to figure it out why was earthbending so difficult, while firebending had been practically natural to him.

Luckily for them, word spreads around and after two months, an air nomad from the Southern Air Temple, Park Jimin, comes to pay visit to them at the Capital. He then explains that the Avatar has seven chakras within his spine, each one having a specific purpose and being responsible for making the energy of his Chi flow through his body.

"So, what you are saying is that my Earth chakra must be sealed?" Yoongi asks the air nomad.

He nods. "I'm no expert, but I think that it is a high possibility that that might just be the case. The Chi between the other chakras must’ve gotten unbalanced, which would explain why you are having so much easiness with firebending."

On his side Seokjin crosses his arm, lost in thought for a second, until he grunts and nods his head, "It would make sense, Yoongi-ah. But I don't think you are old enough yet to open it, the whole process can be really difficult for you."

"But what about my earthbending? I just can't leave it behind like that, it may break the element's natural learning cycle." Yoongi stands up from where he was seated, approaching them.

Seokjin seems to consider it for a moment, but Jimin shakes his head. "Opening all chakras will mean that you will have the power to control the Avatar State, which you've learned by now, I presume, to be known as a the most important and dangerous ability the Avatar has." Jimin takes a step closer to Yoongi, putting his hand over his shoulder. "About your earthbending, I'm afraid that nothing can be done at this moment. If you resume on your fire bending, followed by your air and waterbending training, than the cycle won't break. You will just need to leave earth for the last."

Yoongi sighs. He supposes that Jimin's right. He wouldn't be breaking any cycle if he were to start it over.

"Yeah, okay." He nods his head in agreement. "Let's go with that, and when I'm done with all the other bendings I can work on my chakra and complete my Avatar training."

\-------------------------

So, after three years at the Capital, one afternoon Yoongi’s training his firebending by himself when he hears a cracking sound behind him.

 _“Upcoming”_ He shifts on his feet and quickly deflects the upcoming attack at his direction.

"Nice dodge! Practising all alone, Yoongi-ah?" Seokjin approaches with a smile. Yoongi visibilly relaxes and returns it, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I thought I could work a bit more on that last movement you showed me yesterday. Still can't quite get right."

Yoongi hears what must be a whispered " _working hard as usual._ " coming from Seokjin. "It's the weekend Seokjin-hyung, shouldn't you be with your family?"

"Oh." Seokjin seems to remember why he came to see him. Raising his hand, he delivers a letter to Yoongi. "It came in the mail today. It's for you."

Yoongi looks down at the paper on his hand. He slowly runs his thumb over on where the envelope reads in calligraphic letters: _Invitation_ . Turning the envelope around, he sees right at the lower corner, written in a different handwriting: _Jeon Jungkook._

"So, what is it?" Seokjin curiously asks, trying to take a peek at the envelope.

"I don't know yet, but I'm not telling you." Yoongi sings songs. "Don't you have a place to be?"

"Oh come on, don't be like that to your hyung." Seokjin _pouts_ . A forty-year old man _pouting_ at him because Yoongi won't let him see what's on the letter.

Yoongi playfully rolls his eyes at him, but complies and slowly opens the envelope.

After reading it, Yoongi grins.

"What, what is it?" Seokjin's voice is desperate with curiosity.

"An invitation to the new Earth King's crowning."

\----------------------------------

Yoongi arrives at Ba Sing Se in the evening. He had missed this place, slightly more different now due to the crowning this night. Bright neon green lights fill the houses by the street, and he sees people leaving their houses, all heading to the Top Ring like him.

Tonight, Yoongi decided to style his hair a little bit, having his hair parted and his black locks falling to the left, as well as a beautiful navy colored kimono, traditional from his tribe.

As he approaches the palace, more people appear. He greets a guard, and her eyes widen in surprise, immediately recognizing him and bows back, "Good evening, Avatar. May I be to your assistance?"

"Ah, yes please." He smiles and scratches his ear. "Can you help me get into the palace? There are a bit too much people here." He gestures to the crowd.

"Of course, sir. Please, follow me." She replies, and gestures to two other more guards on her right side. "You two, accompany us."

As they pass through the crowd, Yoongi can't help but to hear the rushed whispers from the people around them. _"is that...?"_ and _"the Avatar is back!"_.

Finally, they reach the endless stairs. At the top, Yoongi can see the empty throne, as well as several guards on both sides. Here, the neon green lights are also spread around, and together with the decoration they give a beautiful atmosphere, worthy of a crowning.

"Thank you for accompanying me." He deeply bows to the guards.

"It's our pleasure. You will be taking one of the seats behind the throne, along with the other guests." She points at the carefully placed chairs a few meters away from them. "Now, if you excuse us." The guard gives him a last bow, followed by the two others, and they leave back to the stairs.

Hands clasped behind his back, Yoongi walks to his designated place, greeting everyone he meets on the way. The places are almost filled out; two or three more left. He picks the seat on the left, next to one of the five head monks of the Air Temples.

After a few moments, a loud sound strikes, and Yoongi jumps in his chair, startling the monk next to him. Embarrassed, he lowers his head in an apology before turning back to the palace's entrance. In the front, the Earth King comes out, and on both of his sides, the guards march along him. Behind him, Yoongi can recognize the queen.

They walk until they reach the throne, each taking a side and waiting for the prince.

And then, there he is. Yoongi sucks in a breath, seeing the prince coming forward. He looks very royal, _very pretty_ , he quickly adds. Distantly, he can hear the people cheering; he's glad they seem to like the prince as well. Jungkook is wearing a long green kimono, and his coconut hair is gone; now stylished and worth of a King. In his head, sits a silver crown. As the prince approaches, Yoongi can't help but to notice the younger biting his lower lip, and he can't blame him for being nervous. He knows he will have to face a similar situation when he completes his training.

In the middle of the way, though, Jungkook seems to notice him among the other people. His eyes shine, and Yoongi is met with the prince's bunny teeth once again. _Ah,_ he missed that smile. Yoongi raises his hand and gives Jungkook a little wave as encouragement.

Jungkook reaches the throne and the queen withdraws his silver crown from his head. The ceremony begins.

\--------------------------

After Jungkook is crowned, all the guests move inside the palace to enjoy the party. Yoongi greets and makes small talk with several important people, but still didn't had a chance to approach Jungkook. He is, as expected, surrounded by people, but Yoongi manages to catch him staring and mouthing a "I'm sorry", to which he just smiles.

Yoongi walks over to the balcony to catch some air. Bellow him, he can see the city moving, a huge celebration with songs and dance.

"Hyung!" He hears from behind him, but Yoongi doesn't need to turn around to know to whom that voice belongs to.

Jungkook appears in his vision field, on his right. "Ah, Jungkook-ah! Give hyung a hug, will you?"

"It's been so long! I'm already twenty." Yoongi can feel him pouting on his neck, his crown scratching the back of his head. "Yes," he nods, "Too long."

"Let's take a seat, tell me everything about your training!" Jungkook puts a hand on his back and they make their way to a table.

And Yoongi tells him. Tells him about his chakras, to which Jungkook looks visibly more relaxed in knowing that his earthbending problem had nothing to do with Jungkook's teaching. 

"Isn't bending fire scary?" He asks, grabbing an appetizer from the passing waiter. "No, not at all." and at that, Jungkook tilts his head to the side, confused. Yoongi then proceeds to explain what Seokjin has first thought him. Although in the past the image of fire was distorted and that was created from anger and hatred, that was a misconception for what fire really means. Fire is energy and life.

Jungkook enthusiastically nods, giving him all of his attention. "He also taught me this dance, to help me learn the moves. It's called the Dancing Dragon."

"Dancing Dragon, huh..." Jungkook wiggles his brows at him. "Talking about dancing, shall we?" He gestures to the few people valsing in the middle of the room.

Yoongi smirks, raising from his chair and offering his hand for him to take it, to which Jungkook gladly takes and follows after him.

When they get to the middle, Yoongi bows deeply. "My King."

"Avatar." Jungkook says before smiling and repeating the motion back.

\------------------------------

It's much later in the evening when they sneak up to the roof. The number of guests had considerably decreased from before, and the remaining ones were drunk and unable to notice the King's absence. Somewhere in the distance, fireworks are still lighting up the skies.

The colorful lights dance on Jungkook's face and Yoongi can't stop looking. "So that means you are only completing your earthbending training when you are old?"

" _Yah,_ watch your mouth. You will be too, Jungkook-ah." Yoongi says. "Also, I won't be that old, maybe around thirty?"

Jungkook's eyes widen up. "That's _so old_ , hyung." And Yoongi only rolls his eyes back. "I guess then it will be a while for our lessons together, then."

"Yeah, I guess so..." Yoongi murmurs, turning his head back to watch the fireworks, the wind making him shiver a little.

"Hm, hyung?" Jungkook's voice barely comes out, almost like a whisper.

Yoongi hums, but when he doesn't receive an answer he turns back to look at him. Lower lip caught between his teeth, he looks just as nervous as when he was walking down to the throne.

"Would it be...Can I give you a kiss?"

Yoongi sucks in a breath, and barely registers his own nod. He sees Jungkook slowly closing the space between them, eyes never leaving his lips. Yoongi can feel his cheeks burning, and wonders if he can also hear his loud heartbeat. When Jungkook slightly tilts his head to the side, Yoongi closes his eyes.

 _Soft,_ is the first thought that comes to his mind when he feels the younger's lips pressing against his. It's a tiny, quick kiss that has him asking for more, so when Jungkook starts pulling back, Yoongi places his hand on his nape, feeling Jungkook's tiny gasp before pulling him closer once more and deepening their kiss.

When they separate, Jungkook's face is cutely flushed, and Yoongi can't stop smiling.

_Air_

On the few years Jungkook ruled since being crowned, he was confident that he could make great changes. Firstly, he ordered the Ring walls that divided the society of Ba Sing Se to be torn down. He, of course, received a lot of backlash from the nobles and rich people that now used to live on the Upper Ring; but proportionally received a lot of support from the Middle and Lower Rings people, now hopeful for the new King’s reign.

Here and there, Jungkook made sure to accommodate the Kingdom’s will as he could; but he learned that things wouldn’t be as simple as he thought. The Earth Kingdom is a vast territory, each part having its own ruler that responded directly to him, each having its own problems and fixings. Viewing and controlling all Kingdom is a task that demands Jungkook’s total attention and responsibility, thus the upcoming meeting it’s of the Kingdom’s high interest.

Before Jungkook can think of, time passes. And much to Jungkook’s disappointment, nothing really changes between him and Yoongi. It’s not that they stopped talking altogether; they just didn’t talked about _that._ Which he thinks is slightly disappointing, but in the end, it's the reality of things. Yoongi carry on with his firebending training on the Fire Nation to become the Avatar, and Jungkook had a Kingdom to rule. 

They still kept in touch through letters, which Jungkook is very grateful for, and he’s very excited to meet him today.

The palace is busy with servants and guards, all setting up the last touches for the big meeting between nations. On his bedroom, two handmaids help him get dressed and ready for the meeting. Biting his lower lip, Jungkook stares at his own reflection in the mirror, noticing the contrast between his past self, an innocent and playful prince when he was only sixteen when he met Yoongi for the first time with his current self, a twenty four year old strong and responsible as he can be of a King. A lot in Jungkook's life has changed since, for having to rule a Kingdom wasn't as easy as he firstly thought it would be, but then again, everything always seemed to be very easy for little teenager Jungkook.

Although, one thing stayed the same. He feels his heart flutter before catching a slight blush on his cheeks and quickly looks away from his own reflection, feeling caught by himself. He can’t help it, he thought that after the kiss his stupid little teenager crush would just- go away, but it has gotten worse, if anything. Jungkook shakes his head to push the thought away. He excuses both handmaids and carefully places his crown at the top of his head, taking a deep breath.

He walks towards the door, quickly fixing his green cape and pearl necklace before grabbing the handle and pushing it open, greeting the guards outside his door, while two more approach behind to escort him. Jungkook reaches the main hall of his palace, a round room with a wooden door that leads inside the meeting room. Today's meeting is about bringing new ideas to unite all four bendings and nations in order to improve technology and progress, and maybe, _hopefully_ they can all reach into an agreement. Jungkook has already been in several meetings and knows how the course of the meeting can drastically change.

He greets generals and rulers of the whole nation and searches for Yoongi through the crowd, to no avail, when a young-looking boy approaches him. He has deep brown hair, parted on the middle and is wearing a scarlet silk robe that covered his shoulders and legs, opened on the middle to show a gold dress underneath it. Jungkook quickly recognizes the air garment.

" _Ugh,_ meetings, am I right?" The boy says, crossing his arms and not really looking at him, but at the people around the hall.

Jungkook scratches his head. "Um, yeah, I guess so." The boy finally turns and shoots him a blindly smile, eyes falling shut.

"I got dragged here by my father, so I really didn't had much of a choice." He shrugs.

But Jungkook just nods doesn't add anything further, making the whole thing awkward and he starts looking around to see if he can find Yoongi among the others. The boy seems to notice what he's doing, before blurting. "Are you looking for anyone?"

Jungkook's eyes snap back to him, unsure and tilting his head. "Have you seen the Avatar around?"

The boy's expression visibly clears after hearing the name. "Oh, you mean Yoongi?" He smiles and points back. "He's over there, talking to the Fire Lord. She gives me the creeps," He says, while shuddering.

Jungkook's brow twitches at the casual mention of Yoongi's name, maybe this boy was someone he knew? But most importantly, who is this boy?

Before he can even think about it, the said one turns and lift his hand up in the air, waving. "Yoongi-hyung, over here!" 

In a distance, Jungkook finally gets a glimpse of Yoongi for the first time in four years, and his heart just can't seem to _calm down._ Yoongi looks at their direction, his face confused for a second but then breaking into a smile, before walking over to them.

Yoongi had told him in one of his letters that he had successfully completed his firebending training with Seokjin, and that now he would be moving on to his airbending training with Youngsul, the head monk of the Southern Air Temple. _Probably_ how he met this boy.

As he comes closer, Jungkook sees that nothing much had changed on the older boy; still the same bouncy hair and a beautiful smile.

"Jungkook-ah!" Yoongi passes through the boy and embraces him in a tight hug. Jungkook hugs him back, catching a slimpt of Yoongi’s perfume, fresh and reinvigorating. Their hug is longer than a normal would be, but he couldn’t care less.

Yoongi backs out, but doesn’t let him go yet. “How have you been?” He squeezes his shoulder. “Having a hard time ruling the Kingdom?”

On his vision field, Jungkook sees the air boy gasping. “Ruling the Kingdom?! As is, _the King?!_ ”

“Of course, Hoseok-ah. Who did you think he was?” Yoongi scoffs and finally lets him go, stepping back and taking the boy’s- _Hoseok’s_ \- waist. 

“Jungkook-ah, this is my boyfriend, Hoseok. He’s Youngsul’s son, the one I told you about over the letters?”

Hoseok immediately bends in half, bowing in an apology. “Excuse my behaviour, your highness, I didn’t realise I was talking to the King.” Jungkook puts a hand over Hoseok’s shoulder, encouraging him to stand straight up again. “It's just- you are so _young._ And I wasn’t able to come to your crowning, I had no idea of how you looked.”

“What, did you think he was an old ass grandpa?” Yoongi retorts, smirk on his face and hand still resting on Hoseok’s waist, which Jungkook cannot stop staring at.

Hoseok shoves him with his elbow, making Yoongi flinch for a bit. “Hey! Don’t make this any worse, my dad will kill me.”

“Oh hush, Seok-ah, Jungkook wouldn’t harm a fly.” Yoongi looks back at him, smile spreading on his face. “Right?”

 _Boyfriend._ Yoongi’s boyfriend.

Jungkook looks at them, before numbly nodding along, the information not really sinking in just yet. His assistant taps him on the shoulder to tell that the meeting was about to begin. All three turn to look at the door, everyone in the hall making their way inside of the meeting room. He looks over his shoulder to see Hoseok pouting at Yoongi, probably still upset with the incident, and Yoongi is just fondly smiling back at him, and Jungkook just. Ignores the tinge of hurt he feels on his chest. 

Clearing his throat, Jungkook quickly excuses himself and heads to the meeting. He can’t think of this right now. Doesn’t have _time_ to deal with this situation. _Get it together, Jungkook._ Right now, he’s not _Jungkook_ , he’s the Earth King.

\----------------------------------

During the meeting, Jungkook catches himself occasionally looking at Yoongi and Hoseok’s way. They are sitting together and paying attention to what the the chief of the Northern Water Tribe, which Jungkook quickly recognizes as Yoongi's first mentor. Also realizes that he should also be paying attention to whatever he's saying he should also be paying attention to. _Ugh,_ meetings indeed. So far, the direction of the conversation has been lead to a good flow. 

By the end of the meeting, Jungkook almost forgot about Yoongi. _Almost._ All nations agree that uniting forces by their bendings are an essential move for the world’s growth. Of course, all head chiefs have conditions regarding the bendings but isn’t anything that they can’t reach with a mutual agreement. Satisfied with the setting they proposed, Jungkook raises himself from his seat, both hands over the table. “I think it’s safe to say we’ve reached a pleasant agreement with all nation chiefs, so I declare that this meeting has officially ended. I will take care of the arrangements to start the Growth and Progress Project right away. Once again, I thank all of you who could come today and attend this meeting.” He finishes with a classic head bow, clean and quick.

Jungkook purposely hangs back at the meeting room, still not ready to meet his friend outside. He exchanges goodbyes, while gathering all the project papers displayed over his table, making sure they are all nicely folded and in place.

Having nothing else left for him to do, he heads out of the room, being already met with the two boys casually chatting, waiting for him to leave. He hands the papers to his assistant, taking a deep breath and putting on a smile on his face, marching up to them.

“So, shall we have dinner?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoongi get's ready for his final training.

_Earth .ii_

"Breathe, focus on your Chi and try to shift it into your lower back." With his eyes closed, Yoongi can feel his lungs expanding and his energy travelling through his body, as he tries to channelize it into the right place. "Great. You know the drill now kid, keep doing that for two more hours or until I come to check up on you." His master said, and Yoongi hears him getting up from the floor, his footsteps fading away in the distance. Cracking one eye open, Yoongi checks around to see if the old man is really gone, before untangling his crossed legs and resting his weight back on his hands.

He is sitting on a rock, up in a high mountain at the Water tribe. Yoongi is freezing, but he has no choice other than to stay out here for some time and _pretend_ that he's working on his chakras.

To be fair, he has been doing this exercise nearly everyday for the past couple of years, and has re-opened his Earth chakra almost a year ago (a painful process that he went through, gladfully over now), and now is working on focusing on keeping it open while balancing the rest of his Chi within himself. He's barely thirty two now, but all the years of intense bending hadn't been kind to his body.

Yoongi feels _old._ Both physically and mentally.

It's been nearly ten years since he started his Avatar training and if he can be honest, he can't wait to get it done. Being the Avatar is _hard,_ and up until now he has only learned bendings, and still would've have to take political classes, hadn't even taken any "big" responsibilities so far, like Jungkook had to as a King all those years ago.

Yoongi sighs. Thinking about Jungkook makes him feel excited about starting his earthbending training and finally re-meeting his long time friend. He hopes he's well; due to several reasons none of them were able to visit each other since the Growth and Progress meeting all those years ago, both very busy, and you can tell so much through letters. After the meeting, Jungkook had firstly kind of stopped sending him messages, and Yoongi got really scared that he might have pushed him away after introducing Hoseok out of the blue, so he decided to give him time and waited. Yoongi knew he was kinda of an asshole for doing that, but the truth is- he couldn't help falling in love with Hoseok at the time. He was young, and well- Hoseok was always there, beside him.

He shakes his head to get rid of his thoughts. Maybe, he can make it up for Jungkook next month when they meet. He's going to be the best friend ever to exist to compensate it all.

_(He hopes.)_

\------------------------------------------

The familiar path finally comes into Yoongi's view. Looking out the window, by the left corner, he can see the outline of the city of Ba Sing Se forming in the background. On his last letter, Yoongi had jokingly informed Jungkook to prepare a huge welcoming party, because he was on his way to meet him the next week.

And Yoongi is definitely _not_ disappointed when he arrives at the palace and Jungkook isn't even there to greet him. _Not at all._ He tries to hide his sulk as the guard tells him that the King should probably be on the training yard, and Yoongi definitely _not_ stomps his way into the palace looking for the King. Coming closer to the yard he started his Avatar training all those years ago, Yoongi spots him. He quickens his step, ready to scold Jungkook for not greeting his elders _(him)_ when he stops on his tracks. He can't see his face as Jungkook is facing the other way, apparently practising a sequence of steps, but what he can see is his bare and wide shoulders, followed by his torso, which is wrapped in white and somehow filled with tattoos he’s never seen before, that also wraps around his left arm; his green shorts and well. Those _legs._

Yoongi has now completely forgotten what he was sulking for and is distantly aware that he's staring, but he just. _Can't stop staring._ He even barely registers Jungkook turning around and coming to his direction before closing his mouth shut and deflecting his eyes from the King's body. 

Upclose, Yoongi notices a few things about him. The tattoos he previously saw are a black cherry blossom twig that starts on his waist, extending it all the way to his left shoulder, and a few other tattoos he can’t differentiate on his arm and hand. Now older, Jungkook’s hair is longer; almost covering his cheeks. His face has changed too, now sharper and a bit rough on the edges.

 _Still beautiful,_ though.

“Staring, hyung?”

Yoongi crosses his arms. “ _Yah,_ what kind of welcome was that? I think that I at least deserved a hug from my friend.” 

Jungkook grins. _Ah,_ Yoongi had missed that smile.

“Did you want me to hug you while I’m this sweaty?” He wrinkles his nose, and Yoongi gulps as his eyes follow a drop of sweat running down own Jungkook’s abs. “Can you help me out a bit?” Jungkook gestures to his body, and Yoongi rolls his eyes before using his waterbending skills to gather his sweat drops and flicks them to the side.

Now dry, Jungkook jumps into a hug and Yoongi’s quick to locking his feet on the ground with his earthbending before he gets tackled by the younger. Jungkook hugs him tight; so much that Yoongi thinks he’s going to break, so he hugs him back just as tightly.

“I missed you, hyung.” Jungkook’s voice is muffled by the hug, but Yoongi can perfectly hear his words.

“Hyung has missed you too, Kook-ah.”

“Is that what I think it is?” Yoongi hears the younger say, and breaks their hug. Jungkook is pointing at his feet. “I’m guessing that the chakra opening thing went well, then?”

Yoongi visibly flinches at the word ‘chakra’. “Ah, let’s talk about that another time, just thinking of it gives me headaches.” He says, pressing his fingertips to his temples.

Jungkook smiles, apologetic, raising his hand in the air, and Yoongi is surprised to see a handmaid almost teleport to his side, back already bent in a bow, offering Jungkook a shirt.

“How’s life as a King? Too harsh?” Yoongi asks, while watching Jungkook put the given shirt on.

Jungkook raises his hand up to his hair, running his fingers through it. “I guess you could say that,” They start walking back towards the palace. Jungkook bites his lower lip, seeming to be lost in thought.

“I guess you could say it’s very… challenging.” He concludes, nodding and looking back at Yoongi.

“Oh, and I know how much you _love_ a challenge.” Yoongi grins at him, and he hears Jungkook laughing.

\--------------------------

Jungkook _did_ really like a challenge.

Just like the last time, Jungkook wanted to test Yoongi’s senses. _Easy,_ Yoongi thought, since now, ten years later, he has mastered three elements and can show off a little bit. 

Or at least, he thought it would be.

Yoongi is sweating, can feel the drops of it running on the side of his face. He’s using everything he’s got, water attacks, even fire attacks at Jungkook but the damn guy seems to deflect most of them. Jungkook is _fast._ Yoongi perhaps made once again, the mistake of underestimating his opponent. The younger seems to have completely mastered earthbending, and Yoongi notices that the younger mixes his style with the traditional and fighting focused ones. 

Jungkook also has that stupid, little grin on his face, wiggling his eyebrows at him. 

They have been fighting for a while now, both gasping but stubbornly still going. Yoongi strikes a hard air blow at Jungkook, which he manages to hit, making Jungkook fly back a few meters, but before falling he locks his feet on the ground. Jungkook wipes the sweat off his face and wastes no time before spinning and throwing a kick towards Yoongi, which lands and gets hit by a rock on his stomach. The King moves quickly towards him, and Yoongi tries to hit him with a water tendril but Jungkook blocks it and raises a rock from the ground that involves his left hand, locking it in place. Jungkook is now coming really close to him and Yoongi manages to pull his fist out, but just in time as the younger sweeps his leg under Yoongi’s and his body gives in, and waiting for the fall, he closes his eyes.

Yoongi is surprised when he doesn’t feel the hard ground on his head, instead strong arms around his torso. He is even more surprised when he opens his eyes and meets Jungkook’s, his face framed by his long hair, droplets of sweat on his neck and his fast breathing. Yoongi himself is also panting, feeling a dull ache of his left wrist. He feels his face heating up, and he’s not sure if it’s from the high of the fight or. _Well._

“I-” Yoongi says, breaking the silence. “...I think you broke my wrist.” He isn’t sure why he’s whispering, but it’s the only thing he could get it out.

Jungkook’s eyes widen and helps him get up, wasting no time on calling a handmaid and carefully taking his wrist on his hand to take a look. “I’m so sorry hyung,” The King looks miserable, clearly upset on having hurt Yoongi. “I shouldn’t have been so competitive, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Hey, it’s fine Kook-ah, I was also being a bit careless there.” Yoongi assures him, and he can feel the younger's thumb on top of his hand. The gesture is small, but very welcomed.

They wait in silence for the nurse, Jungkook not once letting his wrist go. “Maybe next time I can make it up for you by teaching how to bend sand. Or metal if you prefer!” Jungkook offers.

Yoongi’s eyes widen. “You can _bend_ those?”

\-------------------------------

Jungkook learns to take it easier after the wrist accident _(which, in the end, turned out to be just a sprain)_ and their classes flow smoothly. Yoongi sees an immediate improve on their earthbending training; on his first try he achieved levitating a medium sized rock, finally feeling his energy running on his veins and he thinks it’s because Jungkook has now much more ability and training, and knows how to properly instruct and correct him on his positions. And when they do finish their trainings, Yoongi almost always offers to buy the King dinner, and almost always Jungkook gladly accepts. 

_(Even though they both know Jungkook has so much money he could pay for whatever he wants.)_

It's when they hang out that Yoongi notices how much things changed. Everywhere they go, citizens always seem eager to greet and wave at him, and Jungkook, always humble, never ignores them.

He also prefers to walk around without his guards, and after Yoongi tells him that can be dangerous, he justs waves it off by saying "If anything happens, I have my knight shining armour right here with me."

He also sees the difference in the city itself; how the Growth and Progress Project has been perfectly working with the structures, more and more people from the other nations on the streets. Yoongi thinks Jungkook's been doing a great job, having always heard good feedback from the elders back when he was working on his chakras.

Jungkook has grown into a fine man, and Yoongi couldn't be more proud of him.

They've just arrived at Taehyung's noodle place downtown, taking seats that are pushed a bit more to the back of the restaurant. Taehyung makes sure that he's the one serving them, and Yoongi thinks it's really nice that the two are still friends. Having ordered their noodles, Taehyung leaves them and heads to the kitchen, and Yoongi takes the cue to ask about Namjoon.

"Oh, Namjoon-hyung is traveling around the nations to study people's behaviours for his thesis." Jungkook tilts his head to the kitchen. "Taehyung, though, didn't quite take it well. Namjoon asked him to come together but Taehyung couldn't just leave the noodle shop alone, so he stayed. I check on him from time to time." Yoongi can feel Jungkook's legs bouncing under the table.

He hums and holds his hand on his laps, leaning back on the chair. He kind of understands the feeling. Looking around, the noodle shop seems really nice, the green walls really match the wooden tables and lamps. It's quite full this evening too, and it seems to be popular around the area.

When their food arrives, Jungkook pulls his sleeves up and Yoongi can see his tattoos again, making him think about the first day he saw them, on the palace yard. To his dismay, Jungkook hadn’t taken his shirt off again after the first day he arrived. He shakes his head to get rid of the thought.

Yoongi takes a bite and thinks it's absolutely _delicious._

" _Wow._ " He mumbles, noodles still in his mouth.

Jungkook giggles. "Yeah, _wow._ "

Yoongi collects a bite with his chopsticks and raises to his lips, softly blowing it to release some of the steam. "So, how’s the marriage proposals so far? I suppose you must receive a lot of them these days." He smirks, before slurping on his noodles.

He said it as a joke, but the way Jungkook eyes him through the strands of his hair makes him duck his head down before he starts to blush.

"Well, I've had quite a few lately." He hears a tone of amusement on Jungkook’s voice. Yoongi still doesn't raise his head, focusing on his food. "Daughters of ministers, sons of nomads."

Yoongi hums. Pretty standard offerings for a King.

"The Fire Lord." Jungkook completes, and Yoongi chokes on his noodles, snapping his head to look at him and coughing a little. Jungkook raises his eyebrows at him, a wicked smile spreads on his face.

"Are you serious?" He asks, wide eyed. Jungkook only nods and continues playing with his noodles. "Ain't she like, ten years older than you?"

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with being older..." Jungkook pouts, but shrugs right after. "I don't think she's that bad, and besides, a union like this could be very beneficial to our project."

Yoongi gulps. He doesn't know quite why he's upset _(deep down he does)_ , but he has no right to do so. Jungkook is a King, after all, and responsible choices must be made, specially with a powerful union.

“Well, have you…you know.” Yoongi starts, but doesn’t finish his sentence.

Jungkook raises his brows, putting on the best innocent face he can on. Yoongi rolls his eyes to the side, and mumbles. “...accepted the offer?”

The younger smirks before shaking his head, and Yoongi feels his body relaxing. “Nah, I wasn’t ready for that yet.”

“Are you telling me that you rejected _the_ Fire Lord?” 

“Yeah,” this time Jungkook’s smile is truthful. He finishes drinking the soup from his bowl and sets the chopsticks on top of it, grabbing a napkin from the table and cleaning up his face. From under the table, their knees touch, and Yoongi’s skin burns with it. He hurries up to finish his own bowl, trying to hide his smile from the King.

Ah, he has it hard.

\------------------------------------

To his luck, it's not much afterwards that he gets to see Jungkook shirtless. Last week, the younger had invited him to watch one of his tournament matches. "Aren't those _illegal_?" Yoongi had asked, but Jungkook just shrugged, saying "I regularized them as soon as I got crowned."

Yoongi takes a seat and watches ad the tournament enrolls. Jungkook is not with him; left to get ready with the other fighters. The fight ring is packed today, and Yoongi can see and hear multiple people, some holding banners and already whistling.

He watches a couple of fights, and even buys some popcorn from a seller going through the bleachers while waiting for Jungkook's turn, and when it is, Yoongi doesn't even have to look up to know that he's entered the arena. The people around him cheering their lungs out, and before he knows it, he's also gotten up and started to clap. Jungkook really is a loved King after all.

A loud voice echoes on arena, announcing the fighter's names. Jungkook is up against some lady he didn't bother catching her name. When the fight starts, the audience sits and quiets down. Even from afar, Yoongi can see Jungkook carefully walking around the earthen arena, analyzing his opponent. The lady, however, takes no time before moving her feet and rising a huge column from the ground, taking Jungkook with it. He then rises a few more on the side, making a ladder so he can come down, and the show begins.

Jungkook gets a few blows, but manages to win in the end. The arbitrary raises his hand to declare him the champion and the crowd goes crazy, including Yoongi, who jumps on his seat and shouts with them.

He waits for Jungkook on the alley at the back of the arena. He can still hear cheering from the other fighters coming from behind the door, and Jungkook’s voice thanking them. The door opens and Jungkook steps outside, hair messy and holding the bag he brought on his right shoulder. 

“Hyung! Did you liked it? Was I any good?” Jungkook approaches him, smile spreading on his face, looking at him with those wide, expecting eyes. From up close, Yoongi can notice the damage that lady had made on him, a bruised, purple cheek and a busted lip. And judging from the way he is slightly limping on his left side, the blow he had took earlier must be quite hurting.

Yoongi can’t help feeling a little bit worried for the younger. “You did great, Kook-ah.”

“Of course I did. I’m a five time champion in this tournament.” Jungkook grins, throwing a wink at Yoongi, to which he only rolls his eyes at.

They go back to the palace walking, and Jungkook’s limp gets worse. He insists it’s nothing, and arriving at the palace he just waves the handmaids off when they offer to help. 

“I could heal you if you want, I’ve learned a few helpful things back in the Northern water tribe.” Yoongi offers, to which Jungkook only gives a light nod.

Coming in his bedroom, Yoongi can only describe it as worth it of a King. Green silk and expensive golden-looking furniture, alongside with a huge bed sitting in the middle of the room. Next to his dressing table rests on the wall a huge mirror that reaches the ceiling. 

“Woah, really making use of your King perks, huh?” And Jungkook playfully elbows him, but Yoongi sees him immediately flinching.

“Go lie down on your stomach, you can take your shirt off.” Yoongi instructs him.

Jungkook walks towards the bed and doesn’t look back when he says, “Oh, you would like that, wouldn’t you, hyung?”

Yoongi knows he isn’t able to see his face now, but he still hides it behind his hands, feeling it heating up. “Shut up and lie down already.” He heads to the bathroom and takes a bowl, filling it with tap water before returning to the bedroom.

When Yoongi returns to the bedroom, Jungkook is already patiently waiting for him, so he sets the bowl on the nightstand and carefully climbs the bed and sits crossed-legged on Jungkook’s side, analyzing the bruise on his back.

He can already see the blue and purple bruises spreading on his tattoo, coloring the cherry blossom flowers. He uses his waterbending to take the water from the bowl, evolving both of his hands and applying on his back, making Jungkook immediately squirm. It’s an old technique he had learned with an ancient from the tribe, that essentially redirects your Chi throughout the body, using the water to stimulate the flow. From under his touch, he feels Jungkook relaxing.

Yoongi repeats the movement for a while, and apart from one content hum, Jungkook is so quiet he thinks he might have fallen asleep, so Yoongi doesn't bother him. He stops when he sees his bruising vanishing, and the cherry blossom flowers go back to their normal color.

He redirects the used water back into the bowl.

“You went too hard. Were you trying to impress me or something?” Yoongi snickers, while tapping on Jungkook’s shoulder. 

Jungkook slowly sits back up, facing him. “What If I was?”

“W-what are you saying?” Yoongi leans back, resting his weight on his hands. He tries to focus on the feeling of Jungkook’s sheets under his fingers to keep him calm.

Jungkook gulps. And, very slowly, leans forward, lips barely touching. “Tell me I’m not reading this wrong.” Jungkook whispers, eyes meeting.

Yoongi licks his lips, eyes switching from Jungkook's to his mouth, and only hesitates for a millisecond before clashing their lips together. Jungkook let’s out a surprised noise and Yoongi thinks it’s adorable, and rests his hands at Jungkook’s knee. It’s a simple kiss at first, but Jungkook deepens it by tentatively licking Yoongi’s lips, as if asking for permission, and he lets out a little moan. The kiss gets heated up when Yoongi feels Jungkook’s hand sliding up on his stomach from under his shirt, so Yoongi breaks their kiss and reaches for the hem of his shirt, tossing it aside and reaches for another kiss, laying down and feeling his back touch the bed sheets, pulling Jungkook down with him.

\--------------------------------------

Yoongi wakes up to a knock on the door, so he sits up and politely calls from the bed for them to stop by later. Looking over his shoulder, he can see that Jungkook is still sleeping beside him, hair covering most part of his face. Yoongi smiles, and lays back on the bed facing him. He starts gently petting Jungkook’s hair, getting some strands out of his face. Jungkook’s eyes twitch a bit and he lets out a grunt, making Yoongi laugh at the younger.

But Jungkook doesn't move, so Yoongi keeps bumping his nose, hoping that this could work. "Kook-ah, wake up, it's time for breakfast."

Yoongi can barely make out the mumble Jungkook lets out, but it's something very similar to "Five more minutes." He hums and keeps petting his hair, eventually leaning forward to place a kiss on Jungkook's forehead.

They remain in silence, until a thought pops back on Yoongi's mind. 

"You never told me why you rejected the Fire Lord."

Finally, he sees Jungkook opening his eyes, a fond look on his face.

Shrugging, Jungkook playfully answers. "I thought that maybe an union between the King and the Avatar could be way more powerful." And Yoongi shoves his shoulder, making the younger laugh.

"It's 'cause I'm a little in love with you, hyung."

Yoongi feels his face flushing, and breaks their eye contact by looking at the ceiling. "...maybe I'm also a little bit in love with you." He admits.

He sees from his peripheral vision Jungkook coming closer and throwing his legs over Yoongi's, resting his head on the crook of Yoongi's neck and he can feel the younger smiling. Jungkook takes their hands and locks them together, reaching up to leave a kiss on his cheek, and Yoongi turns to leave one on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as you may have noticed, i deleted the other chapters, as i was writing the last one, i noticed it was as long as the fic itself so it felt weird to just leave them separately.
> 
> if you have any questions/ compliments about the fic pls comment down below, i would very much appreciate it!!
> 
> thank you all for reading and for leaving kudos <3

**Author's Note:**

> in this setting, aang never froze in the iceberg, therefore the great war never existed.
> 
> feel free to leave kudos and comments uwu
> 
> [seozkjin](https://www.twitter.com/seozkjin)  
> 


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